


Under Their Shadows

by Faded_BlueEyes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alliances, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Blood, Cute, Death, Dragons, Fluff, M/M, Minor Character Death, Romance, War, Weird First Meeting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 08:38:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3971293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faded_BlueEyes/pseuds/Faded_BlueEyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all began when the blue-eyed dragon decided that the alliance between humans and dragons was pointless. The truce was over and war took over the lands.<br/>Now, thousands of years later, history is about to repeat itself. But this time, Levi won't let it, and there are certainly some people who are willing to help him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under Their Shadows

~ Eighteen Years Ago ~

He was young and foolish when it happened, and he kept telling himself that was the only reason he was involved in The Dark War. 

They were the days where gigantic dragon wings blocked out the sun, where fires spread over the lands, where the forges burned day and night and humans made useless weapons and the days where some of the weapons were not so useless, and many of the winged beasts died. 

It all began when the blue-eyed dragon decided that the alliance between humans and dragons was pointless. Dragons were creatures with excessive determination; they never gave up and always fought for what they thought was the right thing, even when it was wrong – they never admitted they were wrong, no matter the consequences, and Levi thought that was perhaps why so many went along with the idiotic idea. 

And an idiotic idea it was; humans – though fragile, selfish and usually cowardly – were much more intelligent than they were ever given the credit for. They came across a metal – a metal so rare, only the small remains remained in the world – and found that the metal was outrageously harmful to the dragons. 

So the dragons came for the land, for the gold and for the easy hunt and were instead shot down from the sky with black arrows. 

These days, the dragons that remain keep to themselves and the humans had learned to do the same. They still train soldiers each day, preparing for the inevitable that is to come. 

Soaring above the clouds, black scales shadowed by the darkness of the night, his grey orbs watched everything unravelling underneath him; a group of dragons had attacked a village, and the fires rose as the screams began to get louder. 

There were still dragons who were more passionate about dominion than others; they thought themselves better than humans and thought they deserved to have full control over the lives of those meagre creatures. Levi was not one of them, but there was also not much he could do against them, either. 

“No! We have to get him out!” 

His ears picked up on the sounds, and he frowned internally at the destruction beneath him. Lowering his body in the air, his black wings folded slightly as the air surrounded him sharply. The dragons had flown away, leaving death and destruction, and Levi picked up on their winning roars in the distance. They disgusted him. 

He pondered on landing for a moment, and for that second he dreaded the fact that all he could breath was fire; a water or even an ice breath would have been helpful otherwise. 

But he couldn't help the cries beneath him; the desperate humans reminded him of his own best friends, the humans that he had saved once upon a time and became much too comfortable around. 

Swooping down, he hovered above the tree tops and heard the screams get louder as they spotted him. He didn't react and instead swooped down to the ground, sharp claws digging into the dirt as he looked around. The humans ran, but there was always that brave young man, whom Levi simply swept away with his tail, careful not to hurt the foolish boy. 

He instead stepped forward and dug his claws into the side of a burning house, ripping the wall apart and revealing the trapped humans inside. They screamed and stared at him for a moment, but as he took a step back, they took their chance and ran. 

He repeated that a few times, searching houses for trapped humans. 

When he reached a house that was falling apart, he heard the cries of a woman beneath him. Looking down, he spotted the woman crushed under the debris of the house, crying as a man crouched beside her, holding her hand, tears streaming down his face as he looked up at the burning house. 

Levi followed his gaze, and the cries of a baby became clear. 

“Please!” Turning, Levi found the woman's pleading eyes set upon him. 

The man immediately threw himself in front of her, “Carla! No!” 

But the woman was relentless and the way she stared at Levi with such hope and determination made something inside his chest tighten; she was not afraid, and she was begging for his help. 

“Please, save him like you saved the others,” She cried and Levi knew as much as she did that she wasn't going to make it out from underneath that building – he could hear her heart slowing down with each second. 

Levi's grey eyes remained on her for a moment longer before he carefully ripped into the building wall, trying to find the source of the soft cries. 

When he found the baby crying amongst the fire, he wasn't sure how to proceed. Extending his paw, his claws gently wrapped around the crib together with the crying baby. Flapping his gigantic wings once to keep his balance on his hind paws, he set the crib on the ground and became amazed as the cries ceased. 

The baby stared up at him curiously, large bright teal-green eyes scanning all the details of his dragon form – starting at the two horns at the top of his head, trailing down to the scales neatly overlapping down his neck and the wings that protruded proudly from his back. 

The baby then laughed lightly, mumbling incoherent words as he reached out with his small hand. Levi cocked his head curiously at the behaviour and huffed, making the baby giggle again. 

In that moment, the man came running, throwing his body in between the crib and Levi, “Thank you.” He said earnestly, and Levi definitely didn't like the honesty and gratitude in his eyes. So he shook his head, huffed loudly and sent smoke into the air before flapping his giant wings and flying off into the darkness. 

Teal-green eyes followed him as the baby began crying. 

~~*~~*~~

~ Present Day ~ 

“Congratulations to this year's graduating class! The 104th squad was one of the most talented I had the pleasure to train and I believe they will become amazing dragon hunters!” 

From the front row, grinning, Eren stood as the 5th best in the squad. Looking down the line, he spotted his step-sister Mikasa in first and frowned slightly before looking forward again. They had bright futures ahead of them, and he could even ignore Jean's annoying voice beside him as he thought about it. 

But apparently, bright futures didn't mean anything more than sitting there on guard walls and watching the trees before them. 

“I thought this would be more exciting,” Armin voiced their thoughts, Eren's best friend standing at the edge of the wall and looking at the trees ahead. The walls were not much taller than the trees, and were there as protection against humans; they would do nothing against dragons. 

Eren huffed, sitting back on a part of the wall so that he could cross his feet at the ankles and lean back on his hands. There was a blade stashed at his hip and a bow and arrow slung over his back – he was prepared for anything. 

“I thought we would be hunting dragons,” He said bitterly. 

“We are,” Mikasa reminded him. “We're looking out for the traps. There are many dragon traps around the city walls, you know that.” 

“But what are the chances one actually catches a dragon?” 

“What are the chances we actually see a dragon?” Armin suddenly spoke and the other two turned to look at him quickly. His eyes widened for a moment and he looked away, “We're trained to kill them, but I've been reading that they've been doing a great job killing each other.” 

“Killing each other?” Eren questioned out loud. 

Armin nodded, “There have been investigators reporting that dragons are fighting amongst themselves. They've found quite a large amount of dragons dead in forests, throats ripped apart by dragon teeth. There must be something making them do this.” 

“Of course there is,” Eren commented. “They're vicious creatures that demand blood. I'm not surprised they're killing each other. That's all they're good at, after all: killing.” 

After hours upon hours of sitting there – broken simply by a short food break – their shift was slowly approaching the end and Eren insisted Armin go home early to his grandfather. Armin argued shortly before thanking his friend and leaving. 

“Do you think this is what we should be doing?” Eren asked Mikasa silently, voice muffled by the sounds of crickets in the darkness. 

“I know I should,” Mikasa pointed out with a smirk. “But coming fifth? You might want to reconsider.” 

“Funny,” Eren rolled his eyes. 

“Well, does it feel right?” Mikasa asked, eyebrows furrowing at Eren's wandering expression. 

“I don't know, I haven't killed a dragon yet,” Eren shrugged. “And as long as I can remember, I've been wanting to kill the monsters that ripped my family apart, but I'm just wondering - “ He turned to look at Mikasa to see whether she was listening but upon finding her looking away, he stopped and followed her gaze, “What is it?” 

“There,” She pointed into the darkening sky and Eren strained to see what she was pointing at. In the distance, shadows moved behind the clouds. 

Immediately pulling his bow from his back, he prepared and from the corner of his eye watched Mikasa load a cannon. 

Then came a roar, a vicious sound echoing in the sky and sending shivers down their spines. 

Two figures crashed through the sky, now coming into sight as two dragons entangled together, claws and teeth ripping away as they tumbled through the air. Another aggressive roar rang out, coming from the dark red dragon no doubt as they pushed away from each other, wings flapping as they circled. 

“So it's true...” Eren murmured. But the sight of the dragons itself was overwhelming; to see those huge beats turn in the air so easily, with such fragility and elegance and yet, and yet they were the most ruthless of creatures. 

Another roar snapped him out of the daze, this one full of pain and agony as the red dragon pulled away from the black one. The black dragon hovered in the air for a moment before it seemed to lose its' remaining strength and began pummelling to the ground. 

The red dragon roared in victory and without another look back, flew the opposite way. 

They watched the black dragon disappear in the tree tops and waited for it to come back up, but it never did. “Should we - “ Eren started but was stopped by a flare going off in the distance. His eyes widened as he turned to look at Mikasa; a trap has been activated. The dragon must have fell right into it. “Let's go!” He exclaimed, immediately beginning to climb down. 

“Eren! Stop! What are you doing?” Mikasa yelled after him, but she was only a few steps behind him anyway. 

“I want to see it first!” He yelled out to her, not stopping for a moment. “The soldiers will be there soon, and I want to be the one to kill the dragon!” 

Mikasa wavered for just a second, mouth opening to say something but deciding against it. They made it down the ladders and stairs to the forest outside the walls and began running in between the trees. Eren noted that Mikasa already had her blade in her hand, and picked up his bow himself. 

He could feel the change in temperature as they began getting closer and knew that more soldiers would not be far behind, having been alarmed by the same flare. 

And then, Eren froze. 

Trapped under a heavy, metal net was the black dragon. The spikes protruding from the net had pierced through its' scales and the blood had began oozing down its body. It remained very still, probably hurting each time it moved excessively but it's large, grey orbs followed Eren's every movement. 

The beast's upper lip moved in a growl, showing off a set of sharp fangs used to tear through flesh. 

“Eren,” Mikasa spoke up as she saw him approaching the dragon closer. “That's a fire breather type.” To highlight the point, the dragon huffed and Eren felt the air get warmer and the dragon's chest began to glow with incoming fire. 

Side-stepping, Eren dodged the breath of fire that seemed to be only a warning. He aimed the arrow at the dragon's head and paused.

Those eyes stared up at him with recognition and wonder and Eren couldn't help but wonder why. After a few seconds, however, the dragon seemed to give up entirely and simply laid its head down on the ground, eyes closing. 

The creature's scales glittered under the setting sun, and Eren had to admit that the beasts they were taught about were nothing like this. The dragon was absolutely stunning up close, and more importantly, it didn't seem to want to harm anyone.

He had a hard time believing creatures like this tore his family apart. 

He let his eyes drift for just a moment, to the ropes ending with spikes which struck into the ground once the net fell, to make sure that the dragon would have an even harder time getting free. 

He turned to look at Mikasa for just a second before he made his decision. Grabbing his blade, he cut at the first rope, earning a yell from Mikasa, “What are you doing, Eren?” 

“It doesn't deserve to die,” Eren told her quickly, cutting at the second rope. “Just look at it, Mikasa,” He cut the third rope and froze as he heard yells in the distance: the other soldiers. 

“It might kill us if you release it!” 

Eren hovered over the fourth and last rope. “It won't,” He whispered and then cut through it. 

But the dragon did nothing. 

Eren took a step back and waited. 

Then, suddenly, it reared back to its hind legs, shaking off the net with a painful roar and then coming back down to four paws with a thud. Mikasa brought up her blade whereas Eren stood there, completely dazed by the power the beast possessed. 

And then, then he felt the weight upon him. 

The dragon leaned forward, pressing one large paw against Eren's chest, claws mere millimetres away from his skin. Mikasa exclaimed his name and rushed forward, her blade ready to fight but the dragon simply swept his tail towards her and knocked her off balance and to the ground. 

The dragon didn't move any more, it simply stared at him, head cocked and grey eyes focused. Eren wasn't sure what to do; perhaps this was his end. He was foolish enough to trust a dragon. 

But then the dragon huffed, a cloud of smoke releasing from its nostrils and right at Eren. He coughed but once it cleared and the dragon was still staring, Eren became more daring. He reached his hand out slowly, heading in the direction of the dragon's nostrils. 

The dragon's eyes widened for a slight second and it quickly pulled back. 

An arrow came flying past them and the dragon looked away momentarily before looking back, huffing a cloud of smoke and then flapping it's giant wings. 

Eren could see one of the wings heavily damaged, but the dragon tried again and nevertheless, managed to get himself up into the air for a moment before it disappeared behind the trees again. 

“Eren!” Mikasa was beside him, crouching over him and making sure he was okay. 

“Did you see that?” Eren whispered quickly, bewildered eyes turning to look at Mikasa. 

“Where is the dragon?” The soldiers came rushing from in between the trees but didn't find a dragon. Instead, they found Eren on the ground, a dazed look in his eyes and a small smile pulling up at his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh? You thought I was done posting new stories? Think again!  
> I wrote this when I should have been writing for the ereri week. Shows you I have my priorities straight... Then again, I came up with the whole plot for this during my exam so... Definitely no priorities.  
> I hope you like it as much as I like it because I love dragons, and I think we should all love dragons. There is never enough dragons.  
> Hope you like it! All comments and kudos are appreciated and I hope you can tell me what you think so far :)  
> Thanks for reading!  
> [Tumblr](http://surveycorpscastiel.tumblr.com/)


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